What is the minimal amount of comfort you could live with? What would be the last thing you would get rid of? Ever lived in a house with no furniture?
I think mine would be a chair. I’d need a chair. I thought about this recently when watching the last season of the Arctic survivor show Alone. Early on in the series, one of the contestants makes himself a chair. This isn’t as common as you might think, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else do on any previous years. It was great, such a good idea and no doubt made his stay in Arctic Canada all the more pleasant being able to sit properly.
It didn’t have any cushions of course, or be able to move up and down like the fiendishly uncomfortable one at my work, or a nice leather covering like the one I’m sitting on whilst writing this, but there it was, a handcrafted genuine wooden chair and that got plaudits from me. I’m not particularly attached to any individual chair. I have many in my house and I’ll quite happily sit on any of them at any time. I also like sitting on the floor; probably more than I should as there is a lot of nice chairs here.
On extended camping trips or times when I have been away, I have found that the one comforting thing I want to do is sit properly. Sure I can sit on the rocks (cold quickly), logs (not bad), grass (wet most of the year in Scotland), ground (uncomfortable for any length of time), sand (good) whatever or wherever I am, but it’s not the same as having even the most rudimentary chair where you can sit back and upright, enjoying the view or a fine single malt.
As much as I like the outdoors and being in it, I would miss a chair the most. So much so that I’m not even going to preface that with the word ‘comfy’. If I lived in a Massachusetts cabin in the 1840s, or in a stone blackhouse in the Hebrides as the 19th century turned into the 20th, I would still want a chair to sit on.
I applaud the guy in Alone for making a chair.
“I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society”. H.D.T.
Live deliberately
Barry
Thoughts as always to lastwolfoutdoors@gmail.com
Currently listening to: Downfall of Drangleic by Nameless King and Blodbad Och Efterspel by Ömatorpet, both available now on Gondolin Records.
